[MUD-Dev] Deriving Self Esteem from one's MMORPG avatar [was: Long-Term Rewards]

[Mark Mensch]

At 06:06 AM 8/11/2004 -0400, Michael Hartman wrote:

> Can having a successful MMORPG character make one less ambitious
> or driven in real life because the sense of accomplishment you are
> deriving from the game is sufficiently satisfying?

It varies from person to person.  It could be the focus one puts
upon their goals in the game.  For example, I was driven in SWG to
try and master the Bounty Hunter profession before my account
expired (didn't happen).  During that time, I had no drive to work
on various other projects because of the time and effort that would
be dedicated to reaching that deadline.  Granted, it wasn't a very
'healthy' goal and focus shouldn't have been so intense upon it, but
it was an indulgence I was willing to give myself.

Others find great personal worth within the games themselves.
Perhaps in real life, they come from a dysfunctional family, or are
people who are not physically fit or attractive according to
society.  In the game, they can become whoever and whatever they
want.  99% of the avatars are the society's view on beauty and you
can be in relationships and marriages without ever having to worry
about disclosing a single thing about your personal life.  You can
leap, run, create works of art, etc - that you can't in the real
world and you can defend, fight and even destroy obstacles and
adversaries where you normally couldn't.

In such a world, why would you have a drive to do anything else
outside of the game?  Your achievements there are toted by many
people "Did you see the Uber Weapon Jax made?" "Hey, Lexicon, nice
work on that critter!", requiring little more than good keyboard
and/or mouse usage.  Compare that to the actual effort it would take
to achieve tasks in the real world, and you can see how one's drive
may 'lessen'.

Now, granted, many people would judge those that take this outlook
as 'in need of some help', but as we as developers create more
intensive, complicated and immersed content with which challenge
these people, won't that just feed more fuel to the fire?
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev